It is another glorious Malardier morning

Richard cycled by and checked the pool at first light as he does most mornings. Without waking a soul this ex-adman living in the sun is the best of hosts, never seen or heard but available if needed.

By 7.30, the sun is well up and the house begins to rise. Adults for a quick pre-breakfast dip, teenagers sleep off a long late night. This morning we lay the table on the terrace outside the drawing room overlooking a distant valley populated by miniature cows and tiny farmhouses. They look as it they have been sleeping in the sun for hundreds of years, as indeed they have.

Malardier was built as a substantial property well before the Storming of the Bastille in 1789 and today, over 200 years later, is a comfortable, sprawling, well equipped and modernised family house. The lovely old creeper clad stone exterior is still surrounded by fields and woodland that is disturbed only by birdsong and the occasional odd puttering of a tractor on a distant hillside.

Dawn baked croissants and a still warm baguette or two...

Roger is soon back from the village boulangerie with dawn baked croissants and a still warm baguette or two. We munch, talk, spread the blackberry jam we made yesterday, drink endless coffee, gossip and move our chairs into the shade as the sun rises.

Later we laze, sleep poolside, plot and prep dinner...

Mid-morning we will kayak down the River Dronne from Brantôme, the 'Venice of the Dordogne' and lunch beneath the 14th century château on our arrival in Bourdeilles. Later we laze, sleep poolside, plot and prep dinner, perhaps a crazy cocktail or several, make ambitious plans for the morrow. Perhaps we shall simply hang out here, the pool garden is walled, secure and away from the main house, across the courtyard.

Riberac Market, hailed (with Périgueux) as among the best in France...

There is a pre arranged bicycle delivery due in the morning and many villages, cafes and bars to visit. Friday morning will be busy Riberac Market, hailed (with Périgueux) as among the best in France. Alice is passionate about visiting Bordeaux, Terence sees this as an opportunity to lunch in Saint-Émilion and load the boot with worthy claret at local prices. Of course this is quicker and more easily done and perhaps less costly in Verteillac, 6 kilometres away. As they say (here) 'Chacun pour son gout'.

Sunny hot days, long warm evenings and cooler nights...

The weather is set fair all week, sunny hot days, long warm evenings and cooler nights to ease sleep with shutters closed. The sun rises at 04.30 and we leave windows open to allow the breeze. The babies have been asleep for hours. Teenagers, being teenagers are up to mischief elsewhere. We, the so called, 'grown ups', pop another cork for a nightcap under a huge star studded sky.

Another perfect day at Malardier.

It is that sort of place.

(The next morning there is loose talk about returning next year at half-term. Richard heats the pool from May 1st to end September, so why not?)'

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Entry fees, opening hours and other information correct at the time of publishing, February 2019.